Indiana

Indiana

Lucky star motel

April 14th

4:26 pm

Connor awoke to the sound of running water. Shaking his head Connor sat up and shook his head to clear it.

He stood up, went to the small mirror, and looked at his reflection. He looked pale and drawn; there were dark circles under his blood shot eyes. "I look old." he mused to himself with a chuckle.

Moving to the dresser, he opened the cooler and retrieved a single blood pack .Taking a glass from the mini bar, he set it next to the cooler and poured the blood into it.

Drinking deeply he felt the cold liquid start to revitalize his worn out body. As he finished the last of his drink he heard the water stop.

After a moment, Sasha stepped out of the bathroom. Her slim figure was clad in nothing but a white towel that only reached to the top of her thighs. Steam escaped from behind her, and seemed to play with her naked form, giving her wet appearance an almost other worldly quality.

Sasha smiled as Connor stood staring at her barely clad body. "If you like the trailer," said Sasha with a seductive smile "you'll love the movie."

With that, she turned around and started looking through Connors bag. Connor shook his head to take him out of the stupor Sasha's scantily clad body had put him.

"Can I help you find anything?" Connor asked, as he saw Sasha throw his clothes out of his bag.

"Well since we left in a hurry and I didn't get to grab any of my clothes, so I'm going to have to borrow some of yours." Taking out a black t-shirt, she put her hand on the knot holding the ends of the towel together. Turning around to see Connor staring she cleared her throat. "Umm, would you mind?"

Connor quickly turned away from Sasha. He heard the towel hit the ground and it took him all of his strength not to peek at Sasha's naked body. "So why are we going to new York any way?"

"It's a vampire independent state, plus I have resource there." said Connor as he tried to focus on something than the uncomfortable tightness in his pants.

"What's a vampire independent state?" asked Sasha as she slipped into Connors large shirt.

"Most vampires belong to one of seven clan. There pretty much always at each other's throats so if you're from one clan you can't just go to another clan's city. Well not if you want to keep your head. An independent state is a city whose king has no clan and there for his lands are neutral."

"So, Can we trust the king of New York?" asked Sasha as she put on her pants and started looking for a pair of Connors socks.

Connor chuckled, his back still to Sasha "Last night you thought I was a monster, but today you seem to be saying we, a lot."

"Yea well, I figure that those guys probably now want me dead too so you're the lesser of two evils. For now any way."

Connor laughed outright at the comment. "Are you sure you're not a Vampire, because you seem to play the Game very well."

Sasha just made a strange growling noise at Connor "But to answer your first question yes we can trust him."

With that, Connor turned around as Sasha was putting on her boots.

With in the hour they were back on the road toward safety. Sasha sat in the passenger side and played with the radio finding nothing suitable she turned her attention to the vampire next to her. "Tell me about the clans." she said.

Connor frowned "What do you want to know?"

"Well, how 'bout what clan your from?"

"Okay, I am a part of the Anzu clan." Said Connor keeping his eyes on the road ahead of him.

"Anzu that's a weird word" Sasha continued

"It's Sumerian it means 'those who know heaven'" Sasha's brow scrunched together.

"Those other words Sarrum, Malku are those Sumerian too"

Connor nodded "Yes, most vampire speak at least basic Sumerian its away to communicate with out humans understanding"

Sasha' curiosity again got the best of her as she asked "Why Sumerian?"

Connor contemplated not telling her, but decided to tell her. She already knew too much but if he was going to throw her into his world, she may as well go in with as much information as possible. "First, Sumerian is a dead language amongst humans so most won't understand it. Second, the early reference to vampires is in Sumerian lore. Third, many vampires believe that our kind began in Ancient Sumer."

Sasha absorbed what Connor was saying before asking, "What do you mean you started in Sumer?" Connor took a deep breath before answering, "Vampire have a legend that during the Sumerian empire, seven houses ruled the country. These seven houses were lead by men who were brutal even by there standards. So the god Anu cursed the leaders of the houses, supposedly Anu said that since they drained the life out of summers people they would now have to drain their blood to survive. Then he decreed that the sun itself would turn on these cursed beings so that they would never again stand under the light of the gods.

These seven men allegedly, then went on to found the seven clans of the vampires that now roam the world."

Sasha scowled "That's kind of dark"

Connor blinked and turned his head to Sasha "We're Vampires."

Sasha shrugged, "So if each clan can have multiple kings, how do they know who's in charge?"

Connor again hesitated before answering these questions related to his secret society. "The clan chooses an Abum, or father. When they die or retire a new one is chosen to take their place"

Sasha frowned, "So who's the Abum of the Anzu clan?"

It never ceased to amaze Connor how humans always seemed to let their curiosity get the best of them. "Right now there is no Abum for my clan. That was Cain's title and now that he's dead, my clan is leaderless."

"That's can't be good," commented Sasha after a moment of thought

Connor shook his head before saying, "That's the understatement of the millennia. When Cain died, I was supposed to assume his position until a new Abum could be chosen to replace him. With Cain dead and me missing, the clan is going to tear its self-apart best-case scenario the different kings will start to bicker and one will muscle his way in to power, worst-case an all out civil war."

Sasha looked at Connor in a new perspective "So your kind of big deal, huh."

Connor shrugged his shoulders at that. "I'm just the one Cain chose to keep the others from tearing each other to pieces when he died."

"If he left you that responsibility he must have really trusted you." She insisted.

"No, the others are scared of me and Cain knew that. You have to understand the kings are like wolves, they'll only play ball when there scared of someone. Cain knew that so I was the obvious choice, because He knew I didn't want to lead the clan, and like I said their scared of me" clarified Connor.

Realization finally dawned on Sasha's face "So you need to get to New York before the kings start ripping each other to ribbons."

Connor smiled at Sasha, she was learning the basics of the Game very quickly "Exactly, That's why DeGaulle is so very keen on killing me. Not only am I am I a high ranking member of my clan, but I'm the only one who can stop the infighting so that we can focus on our real threat, DeGaulle. With me dead the clan will start to kill itself and DeGaulle can do what ever he wants."

As Sasha listens to Connor, she started to think about the world she had unwittingly joined. A world were people were nothing more than pawns, a means to an end. She felt a pang of pity for Connor, who seemed to have surrendered himself into a life of plotting and deceit. She reminded that weather she had wanted to or not she was now a part of this same devious world as Connor.